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Spring 2014 American Landscapes: Program Notes for Graduate Recital Joel Auringer Southern Illinois University Carbondale, auringer.clarinet@gmail.com

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AMERICAN LANDSCAPES: PROGRAM NOTES FOR GRADUATE RECITAL

by

Joel Daniel Auringer

B.M., Texas A&M University – Commerce, 2012

A Research Paper

Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the

Master of Music Degree

School of Music

in the Graduate School

Southern Illinois University Carbondale

May 2014

RESEARCH PAPER APPROVAL AMERICAN LANDSCAPES: PROGRAM NOTES FOR GRADUATE RECITAL

by

Joel Daniel Auringer

A Research Paper Submitted in Partial

Fulfillment of the Requirements

for the Degree of

Master of Music

in the field of Performance

Approved by:

Dr. Eric Mandat, Chair

Dr. Douglas Worthen

Dr. Christopher Morehouse

Graduate School Southern Illinois University Carbondale April 7th, 2014

AN ABSTRACT OF THE REARCH PAPER OF

Joel Daniel Auringer, for the degree of Master of Music in PERFORMANCE, presented on April 7th, 2014, at Southern Illinois University Carbondale.

TITLE: AMERICAN LANDSCAPES: PROGRAM NOTES FOR GRADUATE RECITAL

MAJOR PROFESSOR: Dr. Eric P. Mandat

This scholarly document will examine the variety of clarinet compositions from American composers, including solo works for clarinet, works for clarinet and piano, and chamber music with collaboration between voice, clarinet, and piano. Elliot Carter will be programmed in recognition of his effective rhythmic approaches, including metric modulation, and the skill by which he challenges the clarinet performer with these tools. William O. Smith is programmed in recognition of his challenge to the definition of a clarinet, and the effectiveness of his works that utilize non-standard equipment.

Dominick Argento is presented in appreciation for his works' common relation to lyric opera, the clarinet and voice genre, and the furtherance of the clarinet's presence in vocal art songs. Eric Mandat's refinement of extended techniques, as well as his works' common utilization of microtonal intervals, is programmed in a work for solo clarinet, in acknowledgment of his challenge to traditional harmonic structures and fingering systems for performing clarinetists. Norman Dello Joio is appreciated for his interests in the pedagogical benefits to composition through the performance of a work for clarinet and piano. Finally, the great artistic capacities of works of limited popularity and recognition will be extolled through the performance of a work by a composer about whom there is limited scholarly documentation, Rachel Matthews.

i

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I wish to extend my deepest love and appreciation to my mother and father, Gay and Dan, and to my fiancée, Kate, for their support of my graduate study. I wish to thank Danielle Aldach and David

Lyons for their collaborative assistance on my graduate recital. I wish to thank Bill Smith and Rachel

Matthews for their time and energy in being interviewed for the writing of this graduate document. I wish to thank faculty members in the School of Music that have provided me miscellaneous guidance during my studies, including Douglas Worthen, Frank Stemper, Ron Coulter, Christopher Morehouse, and Edward Benyas. I also wish to express my sincerest appreciation to my principal teachers, Mary

Druhan and Eric Mandat, whom have helped me find myself as an artist at the deepest and most rewarding level.

“Don’t be ashamed to need help. Like a soldier storming a wall, you have a mission to

accomplish. And if you’ve been wounded and you need a comrade to pull you up? So what?”

-Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, Book Seven

ii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

ABSTRACT...... i

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS...... ii

LIST OF FIGURES...... iv

-

INTRODUCTION...... 1

CHAPTER ONE: ELLIOTT CARTER GRA...... 3

CHAPTER TWO: DOMINICK ARGENTO TO BE SUNG UPON THE WATER...... 9

CHAPTER THREE: NORMAN DELLO JOIO THREE ESSAYS FOR CLARINET AND PIANO………………………...……………………....……..14

CHAPTER FOUR: WILLIAM O. SMITH MEDITATIONS FOR DEMI CLARINET...... 21

CHAPTER FIVE: ERIC MANDAT COCONUT CANDY...... 27

CHAPTER SIX: RACHEL MATTHEWS VOICES OF TREES...... 33

-

WORKS CITED...... 37

VITA...... 40

iii

LIST OF FIGURES

FIGURE PAGE

Figure 1...... 4 Figure 2...... 5 Figure 3...... 5 Figure 4...... 7 Figure 5...... 12 Figure 6...... 13 Figure 7...... 15 Figure 8...... 17 Figure 9...... 18 Figure 10...... 18 Figure 11...... 19 Figure 12...... 22 Figure 13...... 23 Figure 14...... 24 Figure 15...... 25 Figure 16...... 28 Figure 17...... 29 Figure 18...... 29 Figure 19...... 31 Figure 20...... 34 Figure 21...... 35 Figure 22...... 36

iv

1

INTRODUCTION

Clarinetists and other aficionados of the clarinet literature benefit from a wide variety of compositional trends and musical explorations throughout the history of the instrument. Scholars are confident in their assertion that “clarinet playing today, right at the beginning of a new century, is in robust health,” through the prevalence of literature, usage of the instrument in many differing ensembles and musical idioms, and the sophistication and progressive development of the instrument itself.1 The place of the clarinet has been secured in Western art music, and a multitude of trends in clarinet music seem only waiting to be discovered. These possibilities are further legitimized by the ease of access to information, both on music with the clarinet and on many other related disciplines, that is enjoyed by those in the first world, and the presence of musical organizations that advance the clarinet, including the International Clarinet

Association, the Clarinet and Saxophone Society of Great Britain, and their respective journals.

These organizations heighten the ability of interested parties to exchange information and share their own hypotheses with one another. If clarinetists and their colleagues suffer from any ill, it is merely the pleasure of an intimidating amount of information and quality music that they are charged with studying.

This richness to the clarinet repertoire is a trend that may be observed on both halves of the Atlantic Ocean, and through the Western European tradition, composers and performers in

American have received many opportunities in the United States to advance the instrument in their own ways, which often differ heavily from individual to individual. The cultural perception of the 'melting pot', as often echoes in the annals of American history textbooks, finds great

1 Roger Heaton, ed., The Versatile Clarinet (New York: Routledge, 2006), 2.

2 realization in the works of American-born composers who compose for clarinet, as few stylistic unities can be found within the nation's borders that could otherwise serve to provide a sense of

'nationalism' to the American clarinet style. Though the trend of American clarinet performers is well traced and effectively documented, arguments for a national style of American music in any regard are subject to a great sense of disagreement, short of the reverence of Aaron Copland's

'popular' styles in the symphonic realm. An argument for any sort of unity between American compositions for clarinet, therefore, would be required to confront the great variety of American life and culture.

By offering details that describe each programmed work for clarinet and describing the differing backgrounds and influences of the composers, it is the intention of this author to assist in confirming the 'melting pot' of original American music while simultaneously affirming the high quality of art music for the clarinet in general. Comparisons between music of American origin and that of other nations are not explicitly intended. There are also no intended hypotheses of the superiority of any particular nation's art music over another. The nature of the discussed works and their backgrounds are intended to speak for their collective diversity but never to decry the benefit of multiculturalism in music or any other discipline.

3

CHAPTER ONE – ELLIOTT CARTER AND GRA

The reward for studying Carter seems, ironically, in the realization that one becomes acquainted with an underdog among American giants, as “Carter is indeed among the most esteemed of classical composers today, [but] he commands neither the fame nor infamy of some composers who seem always to be part of the current vogue.”2 This is less a critique on the quality of the music than a comment on Carter's socialization among musicians both in America and beyond. Such “imperiousness to the vagaries of fashion” provides the artist or composer with an intense degree of creative liberty, and helps to fashion a uniqueness among the music of

Carter that makes him to those versed in musical analysis without being responsible to the trends of a particular moment.3

The debt owed to Carter by modern-day clarinetists, then, lies in the take of his

'modernism', stemming from “an expanded vocabulary which Stravinsky, Varese, and

Schoenberg introduced before the First World War--and after.”4 In the compositions of Carter since 1991, elements of the struggle between order and disorder are paramount. Even the title of his composition for solo clarinet, Gra, the Polish verb 'to play', helps to reinforce this opposition.

The work “is concerned with exploring the relationships between fundamentally opposing types of musical material” and so would 'play' horizontally between the “Apollonian forces of order and coherence and the Dionysian forces of disruption.”5 This can be observed at the broadest

2 Ronald Caltabiano, “Elliott Carter: Towards the Tenth Decade”, Tempo no. 207 (Dec., 1998): 2-8.

3 Ibid.

4 Anthony Bye, “Carter's 'Classic' Modernism”, Tempo no. 189 (Jun., 1994): 2-5.

5 Ibid.

4 level in the opening bars of the work, with little need for additional description or analysis:

Figure One: Elliott Carter Gra, mm. 1-46

Textual indications, especially Ghiribizzoso, provide additional clues to Carter's 'game'.

This Italian term for whimsical helps instruct the performer to be carefree, or perhaps capricious, in his alternations between the opposing Apollonian and Dionysian thoughts. These thoughts are best delineated by their differing elements of articulatory marking, accent, espressivo against subito, and dynamic indication, though Carter deviates from his own plan as soon as it has been fully exposed:

Figure Two: Opposition Graph to Depict mm. 1-4 in Elliott Carter Gra

Apollonian Elements: Dionysian Elements: Espressivo Subito or insinuated subito Slur indications Articulated, generally staccato Piano or Pianissimo dynamic indication Forte dynamic indication (deviated from often) Lack of accent markings Accented markings in conjunction with staccato

This author finds the expressivo, heavily slurred episodes in the opening measures to indicate the Apollonian idea of order, while moments of strong articulatory subito accents would tend toward the Dionysian idea of disruption. Measure 3 has the first of several disengagements

6 Elliott Carter, Gra for Solo Clarinet (London: Boosey & Hawkes, 1993), 1.

5 from these tendencies, with some Apollonian elements of piano dynamic marking and lack of accent sounding in conjunction with the Dionysian elements of staccato and a subito change in dynamics, though the subito is not explicitly marked in this instance. If these alternations are extended more widely, the work can be understood to act as three instances of Apollonian rationality and calm against three instances of Dionysian chaos and instinct. Unique elements of the music, such as a rest that is the longest in duration since the work’s beginning, may act as a method of indicating transitions between ‘large’ sections of opposition.

Figure Three: One Hypothesis of Apollonian and Dionysian Structure in Elliot Carter’s

Gra

Measures Dominant Element Justification Method of Transition to Section 1-13 Dionysian Limited short n/a articulations, multiple piano espressivo indications 14-34 Apollonian Indications of Long-value rest leggero, giocoso (quarter rest) 34-63 Dionysian Timbre trill, high Long-value note (half range of instrument, note) forte, fortissimo 64-76 Apollonian Long periods of piano Long-value note (tied and pianissimo with half note) long slurs 76-85 Dionysian Widely-alternating ‘Game of Five’ ends7 dynamics and forte brillante, a piacere 86-105 Apollonian Multiphonic with First presence of piano indication and multiphonic long durations

The unique sophistication of Carter's music, amazingly, does not end at these horizontal

7 Boja Kragulj and Eric Mandat, “Performance Analysis a Game of Intervals: Elliott Carter's Gra”, The Clarinet 40, no. 2 (March 2013): 68-72.

6 shifts between order and disorder. Additional, more recent articles explore the post-tonal elements of the work's construction, “[allowing] us to play Carter's “game” [sic] with an understanding of the rules.”8 These more recent explorations tend to be vertical in nature, assessing Gra in terms of intervals and specifically-enumerated collections of pitch content. At the most specific level, co-authors Kragulj and Mandat depict the constant presence of the all- tritone-hexachord (ATH) throughout the work, bringing what seems to be a previously- downplayed aspect of Carter's musical construction to the forefront of many performing clarinetists’ attentions for the first time. This new wave of information seems intended to help provide performers of the work with a greater understanding of the music itself, especially with the depiction of 'ATH transformations', the process “where more common tones are retained between hexachords, little harmonic motion occurs – [and] where few are retained, there is maximum harmonic change.”9 Just as a performer might have knowledge of an earlier work's harmonic construction through analysis, this research has began to hypothesize that Carter's works do not deviate from this potential for analysis.

There is great comfort to be taken in the fact that the multiple approaches to comprehending Gra and producing an effective performance do not seem to be in conflict with one another, and clarinetists should not feel pressured to necessarily accept either a horizontal or vertical approach to the work's construction. Earlier mentions of Gra in the articles of Tempo magazine reference the piece's affinity for hexachords, but are limited in their hypotheses on their function. Simultaneously, the theory-centric articles of Kragulj, Mandat, and their predecessor, Guy Capuzzo, make limited mention either of horizontal elements in the music or of

8 Boja Kragulj and Eric Mandat, “Performance Analysis a Game of Intervals: Elliott Carter's Gra”, The Clarinet 40, no. 2 (March 2013): 68-72.

9 Ibid.

7 the dramatic shifts in character that are understood to define the late music of Elliott Carter.10

This is not to say that either party is unaware of the implications of the other, but that the various approaches tend to avoid ideological or analytical conflict.

Figure Four: Differences and Similarities of Approach to Comprehending Elliott Carter's Gra

Bye and Caltabiano Shared concepts: Mandat, Kragulj, (Tempo magazine): and/or Capuzzo: Apollonian/Dionysian opposition Non-tonal framework All-tritone-hexachord (ATH) as method of harmonic movement Dichotomy of musical elements Constant presence of hexachord Tonal construction within non- (articulation, indications, etc.) tonal framework Questionable presence of 'Fundamental unity' in Statistical distribution of intervals harmonic movement background

If any differences were to be considered between these various academics and scholars, it would likely surface from the question of foreground and background construction, which is more a remark upon the nature of post-tonal music than of Gra itself. Antony Bye takes one side by asking if “the strategically place [sic] recurrences of pc collections [can] be equated with the hierarchical harmonic systems of classical (or even neo-classical) discourse” and answering himself with a resounding no.11 His rationale centers around the lack of 'thematic' unity of the work at the foreground, as “pc-set recurrences are not reinforced by foreground restatements distinguished by shape.”12 Kragulj and Mandat, as described earlier, find the nature of pitch-class set recurrences, particularly regarding the number of common tones retained, to represent the shifting harmonic nature of the music. Performers of Gra may benefit from asking themselves

10 Guy Capuzzo, “The Complement Union Property in the Music of Elliott Carter”, Journal of Music Theory 48, no. 1 (Spring 2004): 1-24, accessed January 26, 2014, http://www.jstor.org/stable/27639375.

11 Anthony Bye, “Carter's 'Classic' Modernism”, Tempo no. 189 (Jun., 1994): 2-5.

12 Ibid.

8 the question of harmonic movement and being familiar with these esoteric differences of opinion, but it should not be insisted that one approach or the other would dominate a typical performance of the work. As both the theories of Jean-Philippe Rameau and Heinrich Schenker provide meaningful analysis to tonal works, no single approach to the works of Elliott Carter or other 'post-tonal' composers should be considered authoritative. The diversity of opinion and plurality of musical tools for analysis that musicians enjoy are a testament to the quality of the musical works involved, like Gra, as well as the depth of the musical discipline in general.

Carter is highly-recognizable among those in musical academic circles and music theory journals, perhaps due to the clever post-tonal constructions of his works for various wind and vocal genres. Many instrumentalists benefit from the presence of his works. For clarinetists, Gra is only one offering, and supplemented by Steep Steps for solo bass clarinet, his Concerto for clarinet and orchestra, his Concertino for bass clarinet and chamber orchestra, the Canonic Suite for clarinet quartet, and others. The clarinet is also present in multiple chamber works of various construction. An effective performance of any of these works, of course, is the acknowledgment of the generous and sophisticated musical mind of Elliott Carter. As “our understanding of his work lags behind his forward-thinking creativity,” we are challenged to present this music to audiences in the recital hall and then to seek comprehension for ourselves in the classroom and the musical workplace.13

13 Boja Kragulj and Eric Mandat, “Performance Analysis a Game of Intervals: Elliott Carter's Gra”, The Clarinet 40, no. 2 (March 2013): 68-72.

9

CHAPTER TWO: DOMINICK ARGENTO AND TO BE SUNG UPON THE WATER

Dominick Argento's song cycle 'for high voice, piano, and clarinet' seems easy to discount as a work for clarinet, as the amount of playing by the clarinetist is often limited, whether determined by the number of notes, amount of playing time, or some combination thereof. At the surface level, this could easily strike the piece from any meaningful consideration by clarinetists. However, considering Argento's background with all the roles involved, including the clarinet, and the clever unity found between the work's various movements, a deeper look would likely change the mind of the discerning performer. Argento’s chamber works are “widely performed and recorded, [to an extent] that may be his guarantee of immortality,” and the presence of the clarinet in one of his song cycles is an easy connection between the instrument and his legacy of greatness in lyric opera.14

To accurately depict the work, multiple hasty conclusions must first be examined and discredited. One of the first hypotheses is rooted in Franz Schubert's Der Hirt auf dem Felsen, a masterwork for soprano, clarinet, and piano, which seems to have laid the framework for

Argento's choice of instrumentation. This is contested in Argento's own memoir, as he laments that “the published score does not make it clear that the work is for tenor voice.”15 In addition, one of the work's authoritative recordings was recorded while Argento was away from his residence and professional home in Minneapolis, Minnesota. This is disappointing to Argento because “by being abroad, I had no opportunity to coach [the performers]. . .the record, as a

14 Mary Ann Feldman. “Dominick Argento: Minnesota Romantic,” Minnesota Public Radio Music (blog), October 2002, accessed February 8, 2014, http://music.minnesota.publicradio.org/features/0210_argento/index.shtml.

15 Dominick Argento, Catalogue Raisonné as Memoir: a Composer's Life (Minneapolis: University Of Minnesota Press, 2004), 76.

10 result, was far from what I would have wished it to be.”16 This first recording was widely circulated and emulated by other musicians. A chain reaction of performances that seemed apart from the composer's wishes, especially with a score indicating a gender-neutral vocal line ('high voice'), has then plagued the work since the first major recording.

These happenings are certainly not the fault of the composer, nor of performers today that program the work with limited knowledge of Argento's original intentions. The paradox continues to deepen, however, when one considers that the work as a whole is indeed “an homage to the greatest of song writers, Schubert”.17 The influence of Schubert's lieder as a whole is to be considered in To Be Sung Upon the Water, therefore, but not necessarily the clarinet and voice 'legacy' of Der Hirt auf dem Felsen, as the use of tenor voice, not soprano, would be more in touch with Argento's intentions. This is in spite of the fact that the composer also mentions that his choice of “clarinet along with piano for accompaniment was suggested by [Schubert's]

'The Shepherd on the Rock'”.18 Argento seems to contradict his artistic intentions within his memoir, simultaneously quoting Der Hirt Auf dem Felsen as an influence while plainly preferring his work with tenor, clarinet, and piano.

We are able to come to some meaningful hypotheses on the matter of Schubert’s influence by looking at aspects of Argento’s education. Argento’s skill as an instrumental composer is often downplayed in light of his exceptional operas, choral works, and song cycles.

But Argento’s fondness for the clarinet is evident in his own words. During his studies at the

Peabody Institute, “one of the requirements for a master’s degree in composition was the

16 Ibid, 75.

17 Trucilla Sabatino, “A Performer's Commentary On To Be Sung Upon the Water by Dominick Argento” (DMA diss., Ohio State University, 1980), 80-83, accessed January 27, 2014, https://etd.ohiolink.edu/.

18 Dominick Argento, Catalogue Raisonné as Memoir: a Composer's Life (Minneapolis: Univ Of Minnesota Press, 2004), 77.

11 demonstration of a certain ability on an instrument other than piano.”19 His choice of clarinet,

“thinking it the easiest [of his options],” provided him with a level of familiarity with the instrument such that he found “the parts [he] wrote for that instrument in [his] full scores were always the least demanding among the winds.”20 As the clarinet parts in To Be Sung Upon the

Water are not particularly problematic or prominent, this theory lines up with the actual experience provided to the clarinetist in the performance of the piece. As a performing clarinetist, acquainted with Schubert’s contribution to the clarinet and voice genre through Der

Hirt auf dem Felsen and to art song in general, adding the element of Argento’s personal acquaintance with the clarinet is significant. In some ways, this outlines To Be Sung Upon the

Water as one Argento’s most intimate and authentic compositions, created in wake of vocal and instrumental knowledge that is directly from the composer’s own skills.

A dissertation regarding the piece remarks upon several more concrete hints at Schubert, both through direct musical quotations and noticing the nature of the songs’ titles. It is simple to

“compare Schubert's vocal line from Auf dem Wasser zu singen to . . . the vocal line of Song Five of To Be Sung Upon the Water”, as both the rhythmic construction and the shape of the line are similar.21 Figure Five depicts a fragment of the soprano line in Auf Dem Wasser zu Singen and then compares the content to material from the Argento’s fifth movement, ‘In Remembrance of

Schubert.’ The literal German translation of Auf Dem Wasser zu Singen, not unexpectedly, is ‘To

Be Sung Upon the Water’.

19 Dominick Argento, Catalogue Raisonné as Memoir: a Composer's Life (Minneapolis: Univ Of Minnesota Press, 2004), 77.

20 Ibid.

21 Trucilla Sabatino, “A Performer's Commentary On To Be Sung Upon the Water by Dominick Argento” (DMA diss., Ohio State University, 1980), 80-83, accessed January 27, 2014, https://etd.ohiolink.edu/.

12

Figure Five: Trucilla Sabatino's Depiction of Similar Vocal Lines from Franz Schubert's Auf dem

Wasser zu singen and Dominick Argento's To be Sung Upon the Water22

The fifth movement's title, 'In Remembrance of Schubert', only heightens the paradox of the composer's influence on the work. Though the text throughout the piece is of William

Wordsworth, Argento chose to title this movement with Schubert's name, not only because “it would be [otherwise] impossible for the audience to realize that the song is, in fact, a tribute to

Schubert”23 but viewed across an eight-movement division, the fifth movement would end at approximately a 62.5% division of the work as a whole, a possible utilization of the golden ratio.

Schubert seems not only destined to help complement the above palindromic formal structure but to serve mathematically as the height of the work's aesthetic construction. Though one could apply this 62.5% division of the work to the beginning of the sixth movement as well, this

22 Ibid, 11.

23 Trucilla Sabatino, “A Performer's Commentary On To Be Sung Upon the Water by Dominick Argento” (DMA diss., Ohio State University, 1980), 80-83, accessed January 27, 2014, https://etd.ohiolink.edu/.

13 hypothesis seems less substantial, as no direct, tangible reference to Schubert exists in that movement. It can be conceded, however, that the sixth movement's idea of being 'on the water' may exist close to this golden ratio as a reference to the title of the work.

Figure Six: Dominick Argento's intended formal structure of To Be Sung Upon the Water24

Overall, Argento's song cycle is a rewarding project for chamber ensembles that enjoy the work of the clarinet and voice together, and those that may be interested in making a modern commentary on the influence of Schubert upon American art song. For clarinetists, serving in the ethereal accompaniment role that Argento's parts request can be a valuable experience, as one learns to assemble pieces with the soprano's needs and intentions as the principal concern. From this perspective, Argento's To Be Sung Upon the Water may be facing some misinterpretations, but the time spent on the piece's assembly is well worth the energy required of all performers.

24 Trucilla Sabatino, “A Performer's Commentary On To Be Sung Upon the Water by Dominick Argento” (DMA diss., Ohio State University, 1980), 80-83, accessed January 27, 2014, https://etd.ohiolink.edu/.

14

CHAPTER THREE: NORMAN DELLO JOIO AND THE THREE ESSAYS FOR

CLARINET AND PIANO

Norman Dello Joio’s compositions benefit from a wide variety of influences, “Gregorian chant, Italian opera, American jazz, and modern ballet,” in such a way that an easy parallel can be found between his compositions and his upbringing.25 Studying music in the wake of a long line of Italian organists, Dello Joio’s studies were grounded in “thorough training in the fundamentals of piano, organ, and harmony” under the tutelage of a well-educated musician father.26 Though these skills were to serve Dello Joio well, equal weight must be given to his time as a church musician and as a jazz performer. The resulting hybrid between many differing types of music not only comments upon the particular uniqueness of Dello Joio’s musical perspectives, but also, often, of the diversity inherent in the music found in the American way of life.

As a contributor to music education, Dello Joio’s numerous compositions, often written specifically to be accessible to young musicians, continue to be highly valuable. Dello Joio’s own feelings about the need to provide quality music education to the public were strong. At a music education seminar in 1962, Dello Joio defends contemporary music’s potential to educate students by remarking that “for us to deny today’s music a role in the pursuit of learning is to not keep faith with the art itself.”27 Dello Joio’s intentions were occasionally challenged by other influential bodies, including music publishers, most notably with the commission of Jubilant

Song, a well-respected choral piece for the high school level. Schirmer’s skepticism about the

25 Joseph Machlis, American Composers of Our Time. (New York: Crowell, 1963), 168.

26 Ibid, 162.

27 Norman Dello Joio, “The Quality of Music”, Journal of the National Association for Music Education 48, no. 5 (April/May 1962): 33-35.

15 work’s difficulty, and its worthiness for publication, brought Dello Joio to “[offer] to teach it to the choir in one rehearsal” and his success in doing so led to the publisher’s satisfaction.28 His profound faith in the young, developing musician’s capabilities will lend a great deal to the comprehension of his compositions. The Three Essays for Clarinet and Piano, ironically, was a composition written in 1974 from a later request by Dello Joio’s publisher to produce works that would serve well in the educational sphere. They are in close proximity to The Developing

Flutist, a suite for flute and piano from 1972, with similar educational intentions. Because one movement of the Three Essays is essentially a different version of a movement from The

Developing Flutist, it is most effective to consider the value of both works simultaneously. Dello

Joio indicates the third movement of The Developing Flutist as an aria, though the movements of the Three Essays are untitled. The content of the pieces’ respective movements are otherwise unique, but stylistic unities are common and clearly identifiable.

Figure Seven: The ‘Grace Fragment’ from Norman Dello Joio’s Three Essays for

Clarinet and Piano, first sounding29

Dello Joio is known for “melodies [that] are expressive and supple, ranging in mood from gentle nostalgia to robust joviality,” so it is likely significant when particular fragments of

28 Norman Dello Joio and Ann Meier. “An Interview with Norman Dello Joio”, Journal of the National Association for Music Education 74, no. 2 (Oct. 1987): 53-56.

29 Norman Dello Joio, Three Essays for Clarinet and Piano (Melville, New York: Edward B. Marks Music, 1974), first mov., meas. 4-7.

16 melody are repeated multiple times, even if they are as simple as three to four notes, as his return to them is a way to utilize the concept of melody in multiple ways.30 Throughout the Three

Essays, Dello Joio utilizes the ‘grace fragment’, an arrangement of two indicated grace notes and a landing on the concert pitch A, which is notated identically in all instances with the exception of rhythmic prolongation in one and an octave displacement in another.

This fragment may be observed in six instances in the Three Essays, but is notably absent from the third and final movement. It is also absent entirely from the previous version of the

‘aria’ from The Developing Flutist and from everywhere else in the suite. This advances the argument that Dello Joio consciously strived to make a particular fragment of melody memorable to audiences, as he constructed such into music that was already composed and published in The Developing Flutist. Though Dello Joio makes different voicing decisions with particular lines between the two ‘aria’ movements, sometimes giving items from the earlier piano part to the clarinet, or inverting the direction of fast bursts of notes between the two woodwind instruments, the most noticeable addition to the Three Essays is the ‘grace fragment’.

A more challenging hypothesis to confirm would be the matter of the first of the Three

Essays movements, and the presence of the ‘grace fragment’ there. Did Dello Joio construct his work for clarinet and piano from the pre-composed ‘aria’ movement, or did his work on the first movement create the ‘grace fragment’, and a desire to carry the idea further into the work?

Certainly, the educational value of indicating melodic ideas like the ‘grace fragment’ to students is highly valuable, as it is one of many ways to educate a young musician on seeking consistency or redundancy in a work. Once an individual is aware that content is repeated, it can be decided for the material to resemble one another exactly, or elements of music can be purposefully

30 Charles Del Rosso, “A Study of Selected Solo Clarinet Literature of Four American Composers as a Basis for Performance and Teaching” (EdD diss., Columbia University, 1969), 121.

17 manipulated to ensure each sounding of the fragment is unique. In this way, Dello Joio’s purposeful construction of a repeated fragment may have been an educational decision, a refinement of his work in The Developing Flutist in order to “[grant] the young people in our charge…an awareness of the multifaceted modes of expression in the art of music.”31

Imitative qualities between the piano and clarinet in the Three Essays, especially through the intervallic use of octaves, provide yet another example of the music’s consistent construction, and capacity to educate students in various compositional and theoretical techniques in music.

Dello Joio’s knowledge of the clarinet’s ease of expression across registers leads him to begin the Three Essays with an ‘octave intonation’ in the clarinet part.

Figure Eight: The Clarinet Part in Norman Dello Joio’s Three Essays for Clarinet and

Piano, mm. 4-732

Later in the first movement, this ‘intonation’ is mirrored by the piano, but with a different articulation. A slurred ‘intonation’ is found in the piano part at the beginning of the second movement and in fragments throughout, providing motivic unity between movements. The movement of the octave, generally upwards and then downwards, is uniform, along with a rhythmic pattern of short-long-short.

31 Norman Dello Joio, “The Quality of Music”, Journal of the National Association for Music Education 48, no. 5 (April/May 1962): 33-35.

32 Norman Dello Joio, Three Essays for Clarinet and Piano (Melville, New York: Edward B. Marks Music, 1974), first mov., meas. 4-7.

18

Figure Nine: The Piano Part in Norman Dello Joio’s Three Essays for Clarinet and Piano, mm.

1-233

Ultimately, the instances of octave ‘intonation’ in the work are few and noticeable enough to document completely. A simple graph could be shown to a student that describes where these instances are, when they are similar or different from other instances, and what hypotheses could be drawn on their purpose in a given moment.

Figure Ten: A Diagram of All Instances of ‘Octave Intonation’ in Norman Dello Joio’s Three

Essays for Clarinet and Piano

Movement/Instrument First Movement Second Movement Third Movement

Clarinet mm. 4-7, 42-45, 97- 8, 16-18, 22-23, 38- not present

102 39

Piano mm. 31-41 (variant), 1-4, 59 not present

42-45, 61, 63-66, 69-

71, 76-79, 98-100

The concept seems to be heavily concentrated in the first movement, both in the piano and clarinet part, and the number of instances, as well as the amount of time-space between

33 Norman Dello Joio, Three Essays for Clarinet and Piano (Melville, New York: Edward B. Marks Music, 1974), first mov., meas. 4-7.

19 soundings, increases through the conclusion of the second movement. A notable moment occurs in measures 16-18 in the clarinet part of the second movement, where the original short-long- short instance of an octave becomes ‘infected’ with additional non-chord tones of half-step relationship to the original note. An uninterrupted sounding of the octave is not found again in the movement until the penultimate measure of the piano part, representing a departure from the

‘stability’ that the octave has given the piece.

Figure Eleven: Final Measures of the Second Movement of Norman Dello Joio’s Three Essays

for Clarinet and Piano

From these easily-recognizable trends, like the ‘grace fragment’ and the concept of

‘octave intonation’, Dello Joio’s aesthetic intentions are synchronized with his feelings that music ought to be stimulating, contemporary, and highly accessible to students. His Three Essays for Clarinet and Piano and The Developing Flutist suite are highly appropriate for collegiate musicians and promising high school students. In addition, they are reasonably-priced and can be accessed easily through libraries and online sellers of sheet music. Maintaining high standards of

20 quality within clarinet and flute literature is made easier by Dello Joio’s compositions, and it is unfortunate that other examples of his writing for woodwinds are few. His Concertante for

Clarinet and Orchestra, commissioned by Artie Shaw, is another work to be applauded, as is his

Trio for Flute, Cello, and Piano, though these essentially round out his contributions. Dello Joio did not publish works for flute or clarinet after 1975, though his last published work was released in 2003, five years prior to his unfortunate passing in 2008.34

34 Daniel Wakin, “Norman Dello Joio, Prolific and Popular Composer, Is Dead at 95,” New York Times, July 27, 2008.

21

CHAPTER FOUR: WILLIAM O. SMITH AND THE MEDITATIONS FOR DEMI CLARINET

Few composers or performers enjoy such credit as Bill Smith. His multi-faceted approach to making music with the clarinet “has single-handedly expanded the capabilities of the

[instrument] beyond the wildest dreams of other musicians.”35 As a jazz musician, his time with the Brubeck Octet was “one of the first successful integrations of modern jazz and classical procedures” through his composition Schizophrenic Scherzo, and led the way to the now- common term ‘third stream’ as a depiction of classical and jazz elements operating in conjunction.36 He is applauded by contemporary clarinetists as one of the first to document the multiphonic capacities of the instrument, producing an appendix of fingerings and their resulting dyads that continues to be updated and expounded upon by Eric Mandat and others.37 From nearly any method of critique, Smith’s life and work can be considered ground-breaking in the field of contemporary clarinet performance and composition.

The mere definition of a clarinet has come under scrutiny throughout Smith’s life, and multiple of his compositions are intended for more than one instrument simultaneously, a portion of a single instrument, verbal quotations and bodily figurations in addition to clarinet playing, and the infusion of jazz rhythmic constructions. To study a work of William O. Smith is to challenge the very definition of ‘legitimate’ clarinet performance that has existed across the twentieth century mark and continues to disintegrate today. Some of Smith’s first musings about a non-standard instrument construction were in response to his encounters with the artistic

35 Roger Heaton, ed., The Versatile Clarinet (New York: Routledge, 2006), 75.

36 Ian Mitchell. "Smith, William O.." Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. Oxford University Press, accessed February 25, 2014, http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/26022.

37 Phillip Rehfeldt, New Directions for Clarinet, rev. ed. (Berkeley: Scarecrow Press, 1994), 1.

22 depiction of an aulos while in Greece in 1977.38 This led at first to experimentation with works for two full instruments and a single performer (double clarinet) and then to the utilization of less than an entire instrument, known in the titles of multiple of his pieces as a ‘demi-clarinet’.

Though the term ‘demi-clarinet’ seems to be coined by Smith, the use of a mouthpiece upon the lower joint of an instrument came several years earlier than his Meditations for Demi Clarinet.

Phillip Rehfeldt documents the use of a mouthpiece placed into the bottom half of an A clarinet in F. Gerard Errante’s Souvenirs de Nice in 1975.39 The central difference between the compositional styles of Errante and Smith lie in “normal right-hand fingerings on the clarinet,” with Smith’s preferences resulting in an idiomatic ‘fingering’ engraving on the score for players, while Errante concerns himself simply with concert-pitch scoring without additional information for the player.40

Figure Twelve: Prominent Example of Fingering ‘Engraving’ in Addition to the Actual Score in

William O. Smith’s Meditations for Demi Clarinet41

38 Deborah Bish, “A Biography of William O. Smith: The Composition of a Life” (DMA diss., Arizona State University, 2005), 69.

39 Phillip Rehfeldt, New Directions for Clarinet, rev. ed. (Berkeley: Scarecrow Press, 1994), 72-73.

40 Ibid.

41 William O. Smith, Meditations for Demi Clarinet (Rome: Edipan, 1990), 1.

23

Smith’s approach seems more similar to the decisions of active clarinetist-composers today, with an emphasis on providing instantaneous information to the performer as they seek a fingering ‘in the moment’ that they play. The works of Eric Mandat, as an example, are known to contain fingerings for any and all microtonal ‘non-standard’ notes at nearly every occurrence, with the microtonal pitch notated seamlessly into the original score and the fingering above or below. This hardly seems coincidental considering his ongoing professional familiarity with Bill

Smith. The two have interacted at length as recently as 2013, when Southern Illinois University

Carbondale hosted Smith in support of the Outside the Box Festival of New Music held yearly on the campus.42

Figure Thirteen: A Short Catalogue of All Known Demi-Clarinet Works by William O.

Smith

Title Year Composed Use of Demi-Clarinet/ Publisher Instrumentation Five Fragments for 1977 Partial* Ravenna Editions, Double Clarinet Seattle, Washington 64 for Demi-Clarinet 1989 Full** Mill Creek Publications, Redlands, California Meditations for Demi- 1990 Full EDIPANI, Rome, Clarinet Italy Explorations for 1998 Partial Unknown; likely Clarinet and unavailable Orchestra Assisi Suite Forthcoming Unknown Likely Ravenna Editions Jazz Set for Double Forthcoming Unknown, likely Likely Ravenna Clarinet and Bass partial Editions * Indicates use for limited aspects of the work ** Indicates use throughout the entire work

Smith himself identifies his Fragments for Double Clarinet as his first work for demi-

42 Outside the Box Flyer 2013 (Carbondale, Illinois: College of Liberal Arts - Southern Illinois University Carbondale, 2013), 2, accessed February 28, 2014, http://cola.siu.edu/news/2013/outsidetheboxflyer2013.pdf.

24 clarinet, and also seems to relate the works that are holistically scored for demi-clarinet together with those of double clarinet.43 When asked about his compositions for demi-clarinet, Smith remarks that “FIVE FRAGMENTS was my first composition for demi clarinet…in addition to the pieces you mentioned [Meditations], I wrote EPITAPHS which is for two entire clarinets

(one player).”44 Segments of the Five Fragments involve the use of demi-clarinet, but it does not call entirely for its use throughout. To make the various demi-clarinet compositions of William

O. Smith clearer, some categories can be drawn between those which are entirely for demi- clarinet and those that utilize the instrument in addition to other constructions.

Within Meditations itself, Smith’s understanding of the demi-clarinet’s acoustical capacities is highly prominent. In addition to providing an ‘engraving’ of the familiar fingerings to performers that might produce the appropriate pitches, the addition of a plunger makes more pitches and timbres possible. In many cases, the exact pitch intended cannot be achieved without the precise placement of the plunger with the left hand.

Figure Fourteen: An Example of Plunger-Controlled Pitch Manipulation in William O. Smith’s

Meditations for Demi Clarinet45

43 Bill Smith, email interview with author, February 25th, 2014.

44 Bill Smith, email interview with author, February 25th, 2014.

45 William O. Smith, Meditations for Demi Clarinet (Rome: Edipan, 1990), 2.

25

Figure Fourteen depicts an instance of this manipulation in the second movement. In addition to whether the plunger is in an ‘open’ or ‘closed’ position, Smith differentiates between a ‘somewhat’ closed use of the plunger and what the score designates as ‘tight’. Curiously, the third of these three pitches, when correctly sounded, is lower than the second in spite of the tighter back pressure generated in the demi-clarinet from a fully-sealed bell. These moments in

Meditations provide a subtle reminder of the demi-clarinet’s unique acoustical construction, which can only be marginally compared to a full B-flat or A soprano clarinet. For a full instrument, the performer’s likely use of both hands makes the manipulation of the bell (and the possibilities of back pressure) both less practical and less rich in possibility. Smith’s works that involve demi-clarinet, then, are best understood as music intended specifically for this instrument’s acoustical tendencies, absent the standard register constructions of the full soprano clarinet.

Figure Fifteen: An Obscured Instance of Pitches B and C in William O. Smith’s

Meditations for Demi Clarinet46

The use of pitch manipulation, as well as the work’s numerous instances of

‘contemporary’ techniques, often act as a method of obscuring tonal centers or other harmonic trends, but unities can be found from movement to movement that link them together. The score

46 William O. Smith, Meditations for Demi Clarinet (Rome: Edipan, 1990), 4.

26 specifies the use of ‘actual sound’ in the first movement, reducing the need for the clarinetist to distinguish what is intended on the page and the actual sound that may be played or checked for intonation through the use of a tuner or piano. This is especially helpful given the prominent nature of a diatonic movement from B to C that begins the first and fourth movements. In both cases, the movement is reversed at the end of the movement, with C returning downward to B in a similar method. If an arch form is affixed to Meditations, the piece can be understood aesthetically as a departure from B and ultimate return to it at the conclusion.

Smith’s career and works are critical to the understanding of contemporary trends among music written for clarinet. His efforts often paralleled the late work of jazz clarinetist Benny

Goodman, with both musicians’ separate efforts resulting in a ‘third stream’ idiom of clarinet playing that brought jazz and classical music together. In addition, Smith’s use of non-standard instrumentation and multiphonic methods of playing were to influence a large number of composer in America and far beyond. Clarinetist-composers that are active today in the same idiom as Smith include Evan Ziporyn, Eric Mandat, Jörg Widmann, among others. Smith’s large body of repertoire is alarmingly difficult to locate and not often catalogued, as many of the pieces are exclusively self-published, but the innovative quality of the works will hopefully result in their long-term endurance well through the next century of clarinet playing and composition.

27

CHAPTER FIVE: ERIC MANDAT AND COCONUT CANDY

Eric Mandat’s name is synonymous with the latest in contemporary clarinet techniques and the application of such to compositions. His pieces “utilize extended techniques within a framework [and are] largely influenced by jazz and traditional music of non-Western cultures.”47

These techniques are interesting to clarinetists and to listeners, who continue to write positively both about Mandat as a performer and about his music. In addition, his regular contributions to

The Clarinet, the preeminent journal of professional and amateur clarinetists, keeps his name fresh in the minds of many individuals worldwide.48

Mandat’s many honors are also sustained by the designation of Distinguished Scholar in

2000 by his institution of residency, Southern Illinois University Carbondale. Upon receipt of this award, it was requested that Mandat give a lecture and recital, and he chose to premiere

Coconut Candy for the occasion.49 Mandat notes that the work was already in mind prior to the designation of the Distinguished Scholar award, so it was likely a convenient opportunity to continue composing the work and then to perform it.50 He confirms that “I was giving a presentation and performance, so this was a representation of my current work at the time. It includes lots of subtle structural elements, experimenting with different types of symmetrical

47 “SIU School of Music - Faculty by Specialization Area - Eric Mandat,” College of Liberal Arts - Southern Illinois University Carbondale, March 5, 2014, accessed March 5, 2014, http://cola.siu.edu/music/faculty- staff/faculty/by-area/woodwind/mandat.php.

48 “International Clarinet Association - Master Index by Author.” International Clarinet Association, n.d. Web. 5 Mar. 2014. .

49 Amanda Morrison, “The Solo Clarinet Music of Eric Mandat”, The Clarinet 40, no. 2 (March 2013): 73- 75.

50 Eric Mandat. Personal interview with author, March 6, 2014, Carbondale, Illinois.

28 construction.”51

Aside from the story of the work’s composition and premiere, two elements of Coconut

Candy stand out as unique attributes of Mandat’s music, making it highly recognizable as one of his works. The first of these two elements is an adherence to traditional form. A recent dissertation reasons “Mandat realizes that the unfamiliar sounds in his music can overwhelm a listener…using traditional forms helps make his music less foreign- sounding to the ear.”52

Coconut Candy’s construction as a rondo is no exception to this observation:

Figure Sixteen: A Description of Rondo Construction in Eric Mandat’s Coconut Candy

Segment Measures Notes A 1-30 B 31-41 A’ 42-52 Short restatement into an essential grand pause C 53-95 Longest, most unique section; notable multiphonics; quasi cadenza helps conclude section A’’(!) 96-102 Strongest instance of A material; motive repeated ad libitum B? 102-104 Trills with collapsing interval Codetta 105-106 From C material

The piece most easily fits the neoclassical mold of ABACA, with a brief codetta. The listener is most often exposed to material from the A section, and a degree of liberty is granted to the performer on how much it will be played. The final statement of A is accompanied by the designation repeat ad lib. and can be played as few times as written or repeated into redundancy.

51 Rebecca Tout d'Alessio, “Eric Mandat (B. 1957): A Multiphonic Meditation On a Composer, Clarinetist and Teacher” (DMA diss., Arizona State University, 2012), 1, accessed March 11, 2014, Arizona State University Online Repository.

52 Ibid.

29

Figure Seventeen: The Final Sounding of the ‘A’ Material in Eric Mandat’s Coconut Candy53

The second element of Coconut Candy that is quintessential Mandat is the presence of microtonal and multiphonic techniques that obscure the work’s sense of tonal construction.

Fingerings are often written directly above the score at moments that do not have an obvious choice for performers. Adherence to the intended fingerings are important, as the use of microtones and multiphonics are not intended as gimmick. The ‘A’ motive contains several microtonal sounds, which dance around a ‘center’ note of written A:

Figure Eighteen: The Opening Measures of Eric Mandat’s Coconut Candy54

53 Eric Mandat, Coconut Candy (Carbondale, Illinois: Cirrus Music, 2000).

54 Ibid.

30

The center note A is successfully obscured for nearly three lines of music, sounding prominently for the first time at measure 13. Interestingly, the closest neighbor notes to this note

A in the motive ‘A’, are not evenly distanced upwards and downwards. The work’s third note B and fourth note A quarter-sharp produce an uneven rotation around A. The lower neighbor tone of A quarter-sharp does not even sound below the pitch A itself despite its function.

Multiple other instances of the pitch A continue to reinforce it as the ‘center’ of the work.

Mandat describes that his music “tends to have tonal centers in that there are certain notes or collections of notes that run a section of music.”55 Because repetition of a certain pitch is key to setting it as a center, the dozens of unique soundings of the pitch A are significant. The highest, loudest note of the work is also a written A, placed conveniently at the aesthetic midpoint of the work:

Figure Eighteen: The Aesthetic ‘Center’ of Eric Mandat’s Coconut Candy in Measures 82-8356

Certain other pitches are also repeated in similar fashion as the written As. Repeated instances of written G-sharp and later G-natural serve as long-scale departures from A, before a

55 Deborah Bish, “In the Mind of Mandat”, The Clarinet 29, no. 3 (2002): 60.

56 Eric Mandat, Coconut Candy (Carbondale, Illinois: Cirrus Music, 2000).

31 return to a tempo brings back the original motive A content:

Figure Nineteen: Two Respective and Repeated Departures from Written A in Eric Mandat’s

Coconut Candy in Measure 19 and Measure 2757

In spite of these departures, the pitch A is most often referenced through the repeated instance of the motivic ‘A’ content and should be considered the ‘home base’ of the work. As shown in Figure Nineteen, other pitches with numerous repeats are often done in quick succession and then left aside. In those two isolated instances, which are each repeated three times, the departure from pitch A is also downwards, to G-sharp and then to G-natural, and does not contain symmetry in both directions, upward and downward, away from A. This natural ambiguity in the music is a nod to Mandat’s understanding of the imperfect nature of both music and humanity in general. He comments that “[Coconut Candy’s] pitch, structurally or organizationally, is around the center . . . it’s always sort of the wrong center.”58 Mandat abstains from being mathematically-precise or otherwise exact in the formal structuring of the work.

Taken together with the blurring of tonality that can result from repeated use of microtones and multiphonics, Coconut Candy offers a great deal of musical content that is

57 Eric Mandat, Coconut Candy (Carbondale, Illinois: Cirrus Music, 2000).

58 Amanda Rachel Morrison, "Eric Mandat: His Musical Life, A Performer's Perspective Of "preludes, Book 1" And "Rrowzer!", And A Descriptive Catalog of His Published Clarinet Works (1980-2010)" (2011), Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations, Paper 5054, http://diginole.lib.fsu.edu/etd/5054.

32 subject to numerous theoretical and interpretative analyses. It can also be appreciated as an effective example of Mandat’s numerous compositions, as it contains a number of techniques and practices that are often found in his music. This author intends to meet Mandat’s future compositions with great anticipation of their design and intention.

33

CHAPTER SIX: RACHEL MATTHEWS AND VOICES OF TREES

Seattle-based composer and pianist Rachel Matthews built her familiarity with the clarinet as an instrument of expression through “the good fortune to collaborate several times with the wonderful clarinetist Daniel McKelway . . . an old high school classmate of mine from the North Carolina School of the Arts.”59 She also describes her enjoyment of numerous standard chamber works for clarinet, particularly “the Brahms clarinet quintet, the Mozart quintet, [and] the [Messiaen] Quartet for the End of Time.”60 It is natural, given the composer’s self-declared exposure to the clarinet, for a work of clarinet and piano to surface.

Some of the most effective descriptions of the work’s intentions lie with the program notes of the composer’s published edition of the piece. In both these notes and an email interview, Matthews is reminded of a comment from her youth on the ability of the clarinet to resemble “the sound of a tree singing”.61 Nearly all professional clarinets are made of wood, particularly African Blackwood, as the “dark, lustrous heartwood makes it the medium of choice for . . . producers of musical instruments including clarinets, oboes and bagpipes.”62 Matthews’ connection between the potentialities of the clarinet’s timbre and the origin of the instrument from African Blackwood are effective descriptions of the composition.

All three movement titles are also connected in some fashion to the idea of trees.

Matthews notes that “the titles came after the music was written, and I do intend that they not be

59 Rachel Matthews. Email interview with author, February 11th, 2014.

60 Ibid.

61 Rachel Matthews, Voices of Trees (n.p.: Comus Edition, 2011), 1.

62 Paul Harrison, A Summary of the Supply Chain for African Blackwood, Market Economics and Opportunities for Community Forest Certification (Environment Africa Trust UK, 2008), accessed March 22, 2014, http://soundandfair.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/Blackwood-Supply-Chain.pdf.

34 taken too literally . . . I don’t see this as program music.”63 Bearing this in mind, some small elements of the music may be likened to the activity of a tree. In the first movement, titled

‘Listen through the rustling leaves’, trills in the piano part are infrequent, but occur with a specific purpose. At most soundings of these trills, the music calls for a soft clarinet entrance out of the ‘obscurity’ generated by both the trill and an underlying left hand part in the piano:

Figure Twenty: One Instance of a Clarinet Entrance under

Piano Trill Figures in Rachel Matthews’ Voices of Trees64

Figure twenty depicts the first of three unique instances of this ‘hidden’ clarinet entrance, which literally calls for one to ‘listen through the rustling leaves’ to hear the clarinet, as the movement’s title suggests. This is plausible evidence that Matthews has tied the use of piano trills in the first movement to the concept of rustling leaves.

Matthews’s clever programmatic observations do not stop with the first movement. The second movement is titled “Night Scherzo”, and several elements of the movement resemble a scherzo construction. The movement is essentially a rounded binary, with the primary motive A content stemming from quick, compounded figures of eighth notes in the piano’s right hand. This

63 Rachel Matthews. Email interview with author, February 11th, 2014.

64 Rachel Matthews, Voices of Trees (n.p.: Comus Edition, 2011), 1.

35 material returns as an A’ statement near the movement’s conclusion, indicated a tempo. Figure twenty-one depicts the return of this content underneath a clarinet line marked diminuendo.

Though not explicitly detailed by the movement’s title, the broad concept of obscuring an instrument’s entrance is continued from the first movement’s depiction of ‘rustling leaves’. It is reversed in this sense, as the clarinet line has already sounded and engages in a diminuendo to make way for the piano to sound the A’ statement.

Figure Twenty-One: The Return of ‘A’ Motivic Content in the Second Movement of Rachel

Matthews’ Voices of Trees65

The third movement provides more programmatic elements that are related to the title. In this case, Matthews’ title “Witness” more precisely describes “the collective life of trees that were here before us, have seen all, and will bear silent witness until the end.”66 This is directly related to the performers both through the construction of the instruments themselves and the trading elements of the parts in the beginning of the movement. Most professional pianos and clarinets are fashioned from some kind of wood. As this movement begins, the piano itself, and

65 Rachel Matthews, Voices of Trees (n.p.: Comus Edition, 2011), 1.

66 Ibid.

36 the player playing it, bear ‘silent witness’ to a clarinet cadenza:

Figure Twenty-Two: The Opening Measures for Clarinet in the Third Movement of Rachel

Matthews’ Voices of Trees (concert pitch)67

After this opening motion in the clarinet, the pianist later takes his or her own cadenza, resulting in the wooden clarinet and the clarinetist ‘witnessing’ in kind. Further sections of the movement are with both players together, while the audience ‘bears witness’ to the remainder of the work.

Matthews’s knowledge of the clarinet is a great asset to the ultimate effectiveness of

Voices of Trees. Unfortunately, few sources of any kind are available to remark upon Matthews’s music. This will hopefully change over time as a recent compact disc release of her works,

Dreams, receives critical acclaim from reviewers in several American newspapers.68 She continues to teach piano privately and to compose.

67 Rachel Matthews, Voices of Trees (n.p.: Comus Edition, 2011), 1.

68 Rachel Matthews, “Dreams: New Chamber Music by Rachel Matthews,” March 25, 2014, accessed March 25, 2014, http://www.rachelmatthews.com/cds/index.php.

37

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Del Rosso, Charles. “A Study of Selected Solo Clarinet Literature of Four American Composers as a Basis for Performance and Teaching.” EdD diss., Columbia University, 1969.

Dello Joio, Norman. “The Quality of Music.” Journal of the National Association for Music Education 48, no. 5 (April/May 1962): 33-35.

Dello Joio, Norman. Three Essays for Clarinet and Piano. Melville, New York: Edward B. Marks Music, 1974.

Dello Joio, Norman and Ann Meier. “An Interview with Norman Dello Joio.” Journal of the National Association for Music Education 74, no. 2 (Oct. 1987): 53-56.

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38

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Matthews, Rachel. Voices of Trees. n.p.: Comus Edition, 2011.

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39

Wakin, Daniel. “Norman Dello Joio, Prolific and Popular Composer, Is Dead at 95.” New York Times, July 27, 2008.

40

VITA

Graduate School Southern Illinois University Carbondale

Joel Daniel Auringer Date of Birth: March 2nd, 1990

250 Double Oaks Drive, Double Oak, Texas 75077 [email protected]

Department of Music at Texas A&M University – Commerce Bachelor of Music in Performance magna cum laude, with highest honors, May 2012

Special Honors and Awards: *First Prize Winner of the Collegiate Solo Competition at the 2013 Texas Clarinet Colloquium *Recipient of the 2012-2013 Southern Illinois University Carbondale Master’s Fellowship

Research Paper Title: American Landscapes: Program Notes for Graduate Recital

Major Professor: Dr. Eric P. Mandat